Did we ever think a day would come when $4.839 per gallon of gas didn’t seem too bad of a price?
On Monday, industry analysts said gas prices are continuing to fall, and that Bradford’s average was $4.839 a gallon as of then.
According to GasBuddy, the cheapest station in Pennsylvania was priced at $4.39 per gallon on Sunday while the most expensive was $5.69 per gallon, a difference of $1.30 per gallon.
Elsewhere in the region, Brookville’s average was $4.776, Clarion, $4.813; DuBois, $4.786; and Warren, $4.812, according to AAA East Central.
In GasBuddy’s survey of 5,269 stations in Pennsylvania, the average gasoline price had fallen 10.1 cents in the past week for an average of $4.78 per gallon. Prices in Pennsylvania are 27.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand $1.56 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has declined 8.5 cents in the last week and stands at $5.65 per gallon.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen 12.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.66 per gallon on Monday. The national average is down 34.4 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands $1.54 per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data.
“The national average has declined for 27 days straight, or four weeks, the longest decline in average gas prices since the pandemic started in 2020. Average gas prices are down nearly 40 cents, with Americans shelling out $140 million less on gasoline every day than they did a month ago,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “We may see the trend last a fifth week, as long as oil prices remain cooperative and don’t surge beyond $105 per barrel, and as long as refinery production of gasoline remains strong.”
However, he cautioned, that could change.
“But we’re not completely out of the woods yet — we could also see a sharp reversal in the decline,” De Haan said. “There remains risk of a spike in prices that could send us to new record levels in August, should any disruptions occur. It could be a wild ride, but for now, the plummet at the pump shall continue.”
The dip in the cost of gas occurred despite a rise in demand, likely due to robust July 4th holiday automobile travel. AAA forecast that 42 million people would hit the roads for the holiday weekend, a new record. According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased from 8.92 million barrels per day to 9.41 million barrels per day ahead of the 4th of July holiday, while total domestic gas stocks decreased by 2.5 million barrels. Typically, these supply/demand trends would put upward pressure on pump prices, but falling oil prices contributed to lower pump prices.
